Dec 14, 2003 06:01 PM
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(Updated Dec 14, 2003 06:36 PM)
1890s: Caleb Bradham a North Carolina pharmacist invents pepsi as a cure
for dyspepsia
1922: Pepsi under Bradham goes bankrupt
1931: Pepsi under Roy Megargel goes bankrupt for the second time.
1933: Coca - Cola declines an opportunity to buy its insignificant rival
Pepsi - Cola
1983: Roger Enrico is appointed the president of Pepsi USA.
1983: Roger signs an Advertising contract with Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson:“Roger I am going to make coke wish they were Pepsi''
Roger Enrico : “Michael this is music to my ears.”
Roger becomes the president of Pepsi USA with a sole purpose of beating Coke. His goal was to devise a strategy good enough to influence the coke drinkers to shift their loyalties to Pepsi but the first 180 days of the striving Roger’s presidential tenure prove to be the most unpleasant sunlight hours of his career where everything goes against him. Roger like every manager makes his share of mistakes but his ability to turn every catastrophe into an opportunity forms the attention-grabbing component of this book.
To battle the giant, Roger uses advertisement as his ammunition. He shocks the industry by signing Michael Jackson for his ad campaign. The Michael Jackson Ad is preceded and followed with a series of comprehensive advertisements which succeed in giving coke employees sleepless nights.To retain its market share coke makes the colossal blunder of replacing its ever so popular formula, Merchandise 7X with New Coke which fails miserably giving Pepsi the throne.
“The other guy blinked” by Roger Enrico and Jesse Kornbluth is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s nothing less than a thriller. The chapters are packed with suspense and a good dose of humour. The tantrums thrown by Michael Jackson and other celebrities form a good read. It’s interesting to read how every move made by Pepsi makes a significant difference to Coke.
Besides, being a complete entertainer this book teaches important management and marketing lessons. The book covers everything right from the mistakes made by Pepsi and the way they are handled to microscopic things like the chain of command, the irritating memos and of course the importance of advertising which also include those starry tantrums. The book makes pepsi headquarters look like a place with lots of atmosphere.
As the author of the book is the president of Pepsi USA there are chances that the book is biased but I would still recommend this book to everyone as it not only teaches the essence of marketing but also throws a light on how dramatic life can get. The book is so good that you would only wish you were a part of this entire DRAMA.
